Ferry service from Portland to Canada called unlikely

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter told Halifax radio station CJLS that neither of two proposals for resuming service from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, to New England is detailed enough to justify a provincial subsidy. As the Maine Sunday Telegram reports, the service isn’t financially viable without government startup money.

One of the plans involves Portland. The other destination hasn’t been publicly named, but it likely is Boston.

David Whiting, who heads the Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission, says he and the provincial government are waiting for specific financial information from the prospective ferry operators.

Meanwhile, businesses in Halifax have been preparing a competing proposal to connect Nova Scotia’s capital and Portland in 2012.